Kane takes Porsche Carrera Cup double at Oulton Park

Steven Kane strengthened his grip on the Porsche Carrera Cup GB title with a double win at Oulton Park over the weekend (23/24 June). While Kane won a hard-fought victory in the opening race, he only snatched his second win when Michael Caine spun out of the lead with a lap and a half to run. Meanwhile, Andy Britnell scored a fine pro-am double victory.

Round nine
Kane's first win came in round nine of the championship in a race where the top four drivers were covered by less than two and a half seconds after 25 minutes of racing. Kane (Brixworth, Northants) had to race hard for lap after lap as Michael Caine, James Sutton and Tim Harvey chased relentlessly. Meanwhile, Andy Britnell scored a fine pro-am victory after fending off a stern challenge from Charles Bateman.

On a dry track, Kane and Caine (Newmarket) went side by side into the first corner and with Kane on the inside, he was just able to edge ahead. With Sutton (Barnet) and Harvey (Oxford) slotting into third and fourth places for Red Line Racing, the leading quartet made a superb sight as the cars raced nose to tail around the parkland track. Initially Kane made a small gap, but he was soon reeled in again and there was nothing to choose between the four cars for the second half of the race.

“My car started to go off a bit and the cars of the guys behind seemed to get better,” said Kane. “Then I was struggling on the brakes,” he added, having defended his lead from Caine to take an important victory for his title challenge. “I just need to keep on doing that!”

Caine had his strongest race of the season to date and finished just seven-tenths of a second behind Kane. “Steven made a mistake into the hairpin and locked up, but so did I, and I looked in my mirror and James was locked up as well! Team Parker Racing has done a fantastic job with the car,” said Caine. Sutton and Harvey were always in the wheel tracks of the two leaders. “It was nose-to-tail the entire time; we all had the same pace,” said Sutton. “I enjoyed the race, but I’m disappointed with the result,” said Harvey.

Sam Hancock (Clapham) was never far away from the four leaders in fifth place, while Nathan Freke (Kidderminster) took an excellent sixth in his debut race in the Porsche Motorsport entry. He had to find a way ahead of Andy Britnell (Hildenborough, Kent) early on and, with a handy advantage in the pro-am category, Britnell didn’t want to fight too much with Freke.

“There was no point in racing with him, but I kept him behind as long as I could before I let him through,” said Britnell, who then had to concentrate on the growing challenge of Bateman (Lincoln). “Charles really came at me a couple of times,” said Britnell. However, on the penultimate lap, Bateman spun at the hairpin. “I was trying to line Andy up to go down the inside of him,” explained Bateman, who recovered to retain second place before Nigel Rice (Beverley) arrived in third. After starting at the back of the grid after a spin in qualifying, Rice quickly battled through to third in pro-am but could not make any further in-roads into the lead of Britnell and Bateman.

Round ten
On Sunday, a tremendous race in front of a massive crowd looked set to deliver the first Carrera Cup win for Caine until he spun two laps from home and handed victory to Kane. In the pro-am category, Britnell also made it two wins at Oulton Park despite constant pressure from Bateman in a thrilling battle.

Caine got a superb start to beat Kane into the first corner. “He got a brilliant start and I bogged down,” said Kane, as Red Line Racing team mates Sutton and Harvey slotted into third and fourth on what had quickly become a dry track. For lap after lap, Caine drove superbly to fend off the championship leader, but from early in the race, Caine knew he had a problem under braking. “From lap two it was locking the rears. I wound all the brake bias to the front and it was still locking the rears,” explained Caine.

Finally, into Knickerbrook for the penultimate time, the leading car slithered across the grass and spun. “I braked in exactly the same place,” said Caine. “There was a big bump in the grass and it was so wet that it turned me round.” Utterly dejected at the loss of what would have been his first Carrera Cup win, Caine rejoined in fourth behind Caine, Sutton and Harvey.

“That was a real surprise,” said Kane of his win. “Michael has driven very well all weekend.” The result pushes Kane further clear in the points with 10 of the season’s 20 races complete. Sutton and Harvey took second and third, having run well in touch with Caine and Kane for most of the race, with Harvey constantly shadowing his younger team mate. “Tim’s always there; he’s the most consistent driver I’ve ever raced against,” said Sutton.

Freke grabbed fifth from Hancock on the opening lap and fended off his rival until Hancock dived back ahead under braking for Old Hall Corner on lap seven.

One of the best contests of the race was for the pro-am lead and seventh place overall as Britnell had to fight off a mighty challenge from Bateman. Seldom were the cars more than a few yards apart, but Britnell managed to defend all the way to the flag for a great victory. “What a scrap! It was a mega race and I just could not get away from Charles,” said Britnell. “Brilliant!” added Bateman. “That was the hardest race and he would just not let me through.”

For his best weekend to date in the Carrera Cup, Bateman was named as ‘RAC driver of the weekend’, while Team Parker Racing won the ‘RAC team of the weekend’ award for an excellent team performance.

Rice chased Britnell and Bateman but had to settle for third in pro-am, while Colin Willmott (Redditch) was a strong fourth in pro-am.